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A new study assessed the efficacy of a commercial lytic bacteriophage cocktail as a preharvest agricultural water treatment against Salmonella Infantis, and found modest but consistent pathogen reductions across diverse water conditions.

Food processors do not always consider the physical hazards that may be brought in with agricultural raw materials, or have systems in place to address them. Focus may also be diverted by looking at other sources of foreign material because adequate agricultural information is not available.

SSAFE is helping farmers reduce or eliminate contamination and cross-contamination on their farms by developing a practical guide that provides 47 useful and effective measures that are based on scientific global best practices.

The resources for industry include updated FAQs and information about how FDA plans to implement the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule.

The recommendations, which aim to advance solutions that address “forever chemical” farmland contamination, were developed by agricultural stakeholders, researchers, conservationists, and health groups, in collaboration with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).

A new FAO report offers the first comprehensive global review of the food safety hazards, controls, and regulatory considerations associated with modern indoor farming/controlled environment agriculture (CEA).

Reflecting on 20 years of research, scientists from the University of Pretoria and the Water Research Commission in South Africa are calling for better national water quality standards, as well as regular surveillance and testing of water sources and produce, to address contaminated irrigation water and improve produce safety.

A survey of produce growers found that seven percent of respondents do not implement food safety risk reduction practices on their farms, reporting time and money to be the biggest challenges. Larger operations and farms subject to third-party audits were more likely to adopt risk reduction practices. 

A project funded by the Center for Produce Safety is developing an identification and deterrent system for high-risk birds in produce fields based on sound surveillance and artificial intelligence (AI). The tool would automatically deploy interventions to drive away birds that are more likely to spread foodborne pathogens.

Precision Downtime, a new software solution from Ancera, helps poultry integrators reduce downtime during flock transitions by leveraging real-time, farm-specific data based on microbial risk assessments.